1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multi-light-control automatic focusing camera of the kind arranged to measure through a plurality of areas the reflection of light projected onto a photographed object from a flash light emitting part and to determine the quantity of flash light to be emitted from the flash light emitting part according to the reflection values thus measured.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many cameras of the light control type arranged to emit flash light from a flash-light emitting part toward a photographed object, to measure light reflected from the object and to determine the quantity of flash light to be emitted on the basis of the intensity (light quantity) of the reflected light, have been placed on the market. In most cases, the cameras of this type perform light control by using a single light measuring sensor with weight attached to the central part of the picture plane in measuring the light. An adequate quantity of exposure light is thus obtainable if the main object to be photographed is located in the central part of the picture plane and in a suitable size on the picture plane. However, in cases where the main object is not in the central part of the picture plane or it is very small as viewed on the picture plane, a proper quantity of exposure light is hardly obtainable because of an adverse effect of the background of the object on the light measuring sensor.
Meanwhile, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. SHO 60-108827 has proposed a multi-light-control type camera which is arranged to divide the picture plane into a plurality of areas and to control the quantity of light to be emitted according to information obtained from a plurality of light measuring sensors. This camera solves the above-stated problem, that is, it increases the probability of obtaining a proper exposure irrespectively of the position and size of the main object.
Further, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 557,172, filed on Jul. 23, 1990, has proposed a camera which is arranged to provide distance measuring means for obtaining information on the measured distances of areas corresponding to a plurality of light measuring areas to evaluate information on the measured light of each of the light measuring areas on the basis of focus information obtained from the distance measuring means and to control the quantity of flash light to be emitted according to the result of the evaluation. That camera is capable of automatically making a proper exposure appositely to a main photographed object irrespectively of the position and the size of the main object obtained within a picture plane. However, the camera has the following shortcoming in the case where framing is changed after a distance ring of a photo-taking lens is driven to adjust the focus of the lens to a desired object through a distance measuring area within the picture plane and the adjusted focus is locked with the object in focus, the main (or desired) object might be brought out of the distance measuring area by the change of framing. Even in such a case, the camera controls the emitting quantity of flash light by evaluating light measurement information obtained mainly from some other object located in the distance measuring area. As a result, the main object which is in focus comes to deviate greatly from a proper exposure.
To solve that problem, it is conceivable to repeat the distance measuring action even after the focus is locked to evaluate the measured light values on the basis of information on the focus obtained for each distance measuring area used at the time of an exposure and to determine the emitting quantity of flash light according to the result of the evaluation. However, it is still difficult to obtain a proper exposure, either because the main object might fail to belong to any of the distance measuring areas or because the control operation of the camera in such a case becomes complex.